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Hot lap around a cold lake

Saturday's weather report called for brilliant sunshine and high temperatures of 11c. The past couple weeks have featured rainy weather, a flu bug that took turns attacking the family, an extended stay of my wife's cousin, and out of town/country work commitments of my wife. My only event of the day was to watch my son play hockey in Geneva at 1:15. A ride around Lake Geneva ( Lac Leman to the locals ) was the "route de jour".

Start of the trip........brilliant sunshine???

I left Nyon around 9:30 am and decided to go in a clock wise direction. This way the lake would always be on my right. First stop, about 20km away is the mid-evil castle at Rolle. When we were on our house hunting trip in 05 I stopped here and went in one of the side doors. There were no "keep out" signs. It was bizarre to go up the ancient, worn, dark staircase in the tower. I came to a door on an upper level that was open. I went in to the hallway and found that I was at the office where you need to get your dog license. Now you know where to go when you visit, Statdawg. The castle was being occupied by other city offices like this. Cool place to work!

Next stop was about another 20km north at the mid-evil castle in Morges. Looks similar. This one is now a Military Museum. Haven't been inside but I will check it out before I return to the New World.

The marina in Morges.

There are numerous docks where both large and small passenger/ferry's take on passengers on both sides of the lake. It's a great way to get around if you're not on a moto. If you are touring on a Swiss Rail pass, all the boat fares as well as museum entrance fees are covered by the Swiss Pass. If you can't do a moto trip, a bicycle and a rail pass are the next best way to go. Here's one of the smaller boats docked in Morges.

Next was fuel stop. Hundred octane Shell, self-service. The conversion of this is $36.85 USD for 5.6 US Gallons. Now you know the real reason they love those tiny cars, it's not the enviornment, it's the economy......that and the tiny parking spaces.

On the right is one of the nicest hotels on the lake, the Beau-Rivage in Lausanne. I attended a company dinner with my wife here. The interior is amazing. I never really can get comfortable in places like that so once is enough for me.

This is the fountain at the entrance of the Olympic Museum, also in Lausanne. Most notable relic for me was Jean Claude Killy's race suit from the 68 Olympics in Grenoble. He's either very small, about jockey size, or that suit REALLY stretches.

I continued around the bend towards Montreaux when I saw this out of the corner of my eye. This is what I call a "turn around" situation. You see something, ride for a bit, and then determine that "yes" you need a closer look and you go back to see what it really is. Well, this didn't disappoint me. I always knew that I wanted to come back in my next life as some type of sea creature. This is the one!! You can't see the back of it but it has two legs that are fins at the back. Yes, a man fish being ridden by a topless maiden. This is in front of the Lausanne Water Works Dept. I'm going back in the spring when the water is on to see it in all it's aquatic glory. It looks like water will be shooting out of mouths of the fish the merman is holding.

Hot Lap, Cold Lake

Around the north end of the lake there are numerous vineyards that go right to the waters edge. This is some of the most valuable real estate on the planet and they're growing grapes. The Swiss have found the balance between their incredible lust of money with the love of their culture. These vineyards are from the 14th century.

Another 20km and you enter the land of Cha-Ching. This is Montreux. Home to the famous summer jazz festival as well as the inspiration for "Smoke on the Water" by Deep Purple. If you've never listened closely to the words, check them out. For you Ride Report enthusiasts, you may recall jdmetzger reporting on passing through a small hamlet up north that boasted of being the birthplace of Shania Twain. These days she lives in a manor (use your imagination) above Montreux.

This one's for rkasal. Switzerland doesn't have a king, but it sure likes it's Queen!

Don't know what this Hedge Art is trying to depict, but I wouldn't want to be that little critter. Saw a toothless guy playing the banjo so I got back in my canoe and headed downstream.............

Just past Montreaux is another mid-evil castle called Chillon. This is open to the public and has many fabulous artifacts from back in the day. You can get an English guide program that explains each area. I was particularly interested in the kitchens. Manly sized barbecue spits and macho meat cleavers inside. The armory had lots of swords and armor, cross bows, maces, and my favorite, the pikes. All these were battle used, all nicked up, blood stained. The wires in this picture are from the train tracks which run along side the castle.

After Chillon, I was headed onto the south side of the lake which is on the north side of a large massif. This casts a shadow on the road and I was not happy to see that even at 12:00 there was frost on the grass and ice in the turnouts and the roads had that " is that water or ice" look. I was on high alert as I've already had my encounter with black ice this fall. It wasn't fun, in addition to stressing out around each corner I was disheartened that I didn't see one other biker on the road and I had seen several on the north shore where it was sunny. No pictures from this part of the lake, it was all business, no pleasure. After about 40km the
road dried out and my attitude improved. Here is the mid-evil town of Yvoire. The south side of the lake is in France, the north side Switzerland. In the summer the streets are packed with tourists. You can buy a Chinese made Davy Crocket synthetic coonskin cap and and a Taiwanese Apache war bonnet with rubber hatchet at the souvenir shops. I'm not kidding. It's gross. BUT, the architecture is worth checking out.

Hot Lap, Cold Lake

Well, it was time to get to Geneve to watch my son play. They were playing one of the other top teams in their league. I've taken a lot of pictures of my kids doing lots of things but I'm going to show this one for the hockey fans. The purple jersey is my son, Nick (12). That black fabric is the opponent. This is a big body check he put on the kid right where I was standing. The focus isn't that good but it kind of adds to the impact.

After the match ( a 5-1 win) I headed into the old town area of Geneva. The city was nice enough to organize a children's marching band for my arrival. They wanted me to give a speech and get the key to the city but I politely declined saying that I was working on a ride report for the BMW MOA.

This is the city's famous land, well not really, more of a water mark. A few years ago they broke a water pipe and it gushed into the air. After it was fixed, the people complained so they decided to bust another one, permanently. On clear days I can see this plume of water from the top of the Juras which are behind my house. That's probably a distance of 25 miles or more.

Another famous statue near the lake. The only statues that have clothes are soldiers and diplomats. Everyone else is nude.

Another 25 km and I'm back in Nyon. End of the ride, hope you enjoyed it. Total distance, 212 km.

Thanks for the report and pictures. Looks like you had a great trip. I spent some time in Geneva many years ago and this brings back the memories. I wasn't as lucky as you and was not on a motorcycle...

I can do that!

Originally Posted by Sanders

Thank you for sharing! I always love a ride report with photos. I'd really like to see the same areas photographed from the summer perspective...

Sanders

yes, big differences will be the life in the vineyards and the crowds of people down around the lake. Yvoire will be a comedy scene but it would make an interesting winter vrs. summer expose. I'll do it!

Hockey karma

Originally Posted by rinty

Thanks Paul. Excellent as always.

So your son is a future Dion Phaneuf? He almost won the shoot out contest at the All Stars Superskills event yesterday.

Rinty

I haven't watched an NFL game in three years but we get NASN (north American sports network) which carries MLB and the NHL. My middle child, Cal 11, loves the Flames so we watch them alot. Did you happen to catch the game they played last week that ended in a tie? Phaneuf was the second shooter and he just launched a slapshot from 15 feet in front of the goalie that hit him square in the chest. What a punishment. The last Calgary shooter was his favorite player, Iginla and he won it. Does karma exist???? My son stayed up an hour past his normal bedtime ( my wife was in Moscow on business). He finally went to bed with the score tied. The next morning he asked me if I watched the whole game. I said yes, but I wouldn't tell him the ending because I thought he might catch it on a replay. He said he didn't think they'd show that game again and I said, "you don't know that ( the schedule is unknown ) for all you know, it could be on right now". He turned on the TV and it was on and there were 2 minutes left in regulation. He got to watch overtime, the Phaneuf shot, and then his favorite player and captain win it. He put on his jacket and went outside and the bus picked him up, big smile on his face. Well, gotta go, the Young Stars all-star game is on in 10 minutes............

Hot lap

Paul:

The game where Iginla scored in overtime was against the Wild on Jan. 16 (Jarome lives just a few blocks from us). I don't know if your son has seen the All Stars SuperSkills program yet, but Jarome and Dion delivered slapshots of 95.7 and 96.2 mph. Chara won with a 103.1.

In the last game at the SaddleDome, Dion blew out two panes of glass behind the goal with with slap shots that were within minutes of each other. That was a real hoo ha for the fans. We're really hoping the Flames can keep him, as he becomes a restricted free agent in a few months, and I don't think they have a lot of cap room left. He'll want to stay in Calgary (he's from Edmonton), but the pundits don't see him staying on for less than what he could get elsewhere.